Volume V (2022)
behind by other bacteria (a phenomenon now known as transformation), Oswald Avery and his
biochemist colleagues asked what chemical stuff makes up genetic material in bacteria. That’s a
pretty interesting question about the world. After posing the empirical question, both scientists and
empirical philosophers develop an answer to that question (a theory) as well as reasonable auxiliary
assumptions that help the theory account for the observations that generated the question.
Empirical philosophers really do advance empirical theories. For example, Saul Kripke’s
referential theory of meaning for (most) English names is just as empirical in its content as Oswald
Avery et al.’s DNA theory of genetic material in bacteria. The next step for both scientists and
empirical philosophers is testing your theory. Here’s where some significant differences arise
though. While scientists tend to prefer controlled experiments and quantitative evidence, empirical
philosophers tend to rely on thought experiments and qualitative evidence. This is changing
though. There’s multiple movements in empirical philosophy to employ more transparent and
reliable methods for marshalling evidence, such as scientific metaphysics and experimental
philosophy of language. However, both scientists and empirical philosophers don’t consider a
theory well-confirmed until it receives lots and lots of criticism and scrutiny. After arriving at a
well-confirmed theory, scientists tend to apply that theory to solve other problems, within or
outside of science. For example, we would have no mRNA COVID-19 vaccines without the basic
science discovery that messenger RNA tells ribosomes which proteins to produce. We apply
philosophical theories as well.
For example, computer and electrical engineers have made good use of the classical propositional
logic developed by logicians, for it’s the logic that’s used to construct the transistors in our smart
phones, computers, watches, hearing aids, pacemakers, and other useful electronic devices.
However, an important disanalogy between science and philosophy is that you often get lots more
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